Lights, Camera, Action

In a new approach to student involvement in commercials, several select groups from the CSULB Film and Electronic Arts Department(FEA) were chosen in May 2008 to compete for a 30 second commercial spot advertising the Ford Focus and sponsored by the Southern California Ford Dealers.

The winning commercial came from production students Luke Richmond and Mantas Zvinas. Along with earning recognition, the two students were awarded a $2,500 cash prize for being selected as the winners out of nine teams from CSULB.

A few other local schools, including Chapman University and Cal State Northridge, were involved in the competition and "There was an open call to film schools through Ford," said Rob Riddle, co- director of one of the other CSULB teams.

Teams were given a deadline to submit their finished spot and Riddle's group spent about 10 days working on the production. "We spent a week in pre-production, choosing a location,setting up shots and then we filmed it in a day," said Riddle. "We shot it at a hangar down near the Long Beach airport and we used crane shots and dollies to give it a professional look."

Ford employed Dailey & Associates Advertising to judge the commercials and choose the winning group. The FEA has been had competitions before, but when it comes to being involved in a competition with a major company like Ford, "We were the first ones to do it," said Riddle.

Time to get Creative

The CSULB Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship(SIE) has just ended their yearly innovation challenge, according to the CSULB website. The challenge took place from February 26 to March 4 and consisted of teams made up of Long Beach State students.

Students were given three random objects that they had to turn into something of monetary and social value.

Judging will be done March 17 during the innovation showcase at the USU ballroom from 3-5 p.m. Students will be graded on creativity, innovation, efficiency, reachability and collaboration. First, second and third place will receive $500, $300 and $200 respectively.

This competition was started in 2003 by Idea Crossing, a company specializing in idea contests. Since then, Idea Crossing has become the largest business innovation competition for students.

Previous winners include last years "Team Innovative Inertia" from the College of Business Administration(CBA) who created shoes out of 100 percent recycled plastic using an iron to melt plastic bags. The shoes were created for two reasons: to help children in developing countries without any footwear and to reduce the amount of plastic bags in overflow land fills.

The team credits their advisor, Legal Studies in Business Professor Tom Rhoads. “Don’t just think outside of the box, invent a completely new box,” said Rhoads.